America’s National Parks Podcast
274 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 827 ratingsExplore our national parks — their history, their people, and their stories.
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Episodes
The Sleeping Volcano
August 17, 2018 08:05 - 24 minutes - 33.1 MBOn May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted — it was the "deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, generating “about 500 times the force that the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima,” it killed 57 people and thousands of animals and lopped 1,300 feet off the top of the mountain. Still, there's another volcano that is much more concerning to volcanologists. On this episode of...
Ballads of Big Bend
August 10, 2018 04:39 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBThe shape of the southwestern edge of Texas is carved by The Rio Grande river, as it tranquilly flows bringing life to some of the most remote regions of the country. Here, the Rio takes a giant turn north, a Big Bend creating the heel in Texas's shape. The Rio Grande represents something else, though, it's the border between the United States and Mexico, and at a border crossing, one man welcomed Americans to our southern neighbor through songs that floated among the canyon. On this episo...
Rangers Make the Difference
August 03, 2018 05:07 - 22 minutes - 30.2 MBJuly 31st of each year is set aside by the International Ranger Foundation as World Ranger Day to honor park rangers around the globe who are on the front line in the fight to protect our natural heritage. It's also an opportunity to pay tribute to rangers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. To honor this past Tuesday's World Ranger Day, on this episode of America's National Parks we're highlighting three stories of National Park Service rangers who have gone above and beyond the...
The 14th Colony
July 27, 2018 06:04 - 26 minutes - 36.7 MBEveryone knows America's legendary origins — 13 colonies fighting off the tyranny of the British Empire to form our Union — but did you know there was, if only for a brief time, an extra-legal 14th colony? If that blows your mind, you'll be even more astounded to find out its name ... it was called Transylvania. It was made possible by a famous name, too, a man called Daniel Boone. On this episode of America's National Parks, The Transylvania Purchase, a land which laid its gateway at a gap...
The Land That Made a President
July 20, 2018 03:31 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBOn his 22nd birthday, in 1880, Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee. Their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on February 12, 1884. Two days after his daughter was born, his wife and mother died on the same day in the same house. Distraught, he escaped to a cattle ranch in the Dakotas. On this episode of America's National Parks, the 26th President of the United States, and his time in North Dakota, in an area now known as Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Resources, music cr...
Unleashing a Tamed River
July 13, 2018 04:28 - 18 minutes - 25.4 MBOver the past century, the United States has led the world in dam construction. There are at least 90,000 dams over six-feet tall in this country and over 2 million shorter than six feet. More than a quarter have passed their 50-year average life expectancy; by 2020, that figure will reach 85 percent. On average, we have constructed one dam over 6 feet tall every day since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On this episode of America's National Parks, the removal of the dams on...
Acadia National Park and the Year Maine Burned
July 06, 2018 02:08 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBStrange weather patterns set in 1947 in the state of Maine, as a quick and early spring thaw preceded months of endless rain. Finally, at the end of June, the sun broke through the clouds as temperatures climbed bringing about a warm summer. Mother nature had apparently used up all the rain in the spring, as the state went through 108 days without any appreciable rain. Everything became exceedingly dry in the hot sun and water supply dwindled. Recognizing the dangers of the dry conditions, o...
The Gateway to Arizona
June 28, 2018 19:34 - 15 minutes - 20.7 MBIf there's one place in our travels that has seemed a nearly hidden gem -- a place where hardly anyone goes, yet is full of incredible beauty -- it's the confluence of the northern tip of Grand Canyon National Park, where miles of the Colorado River are protected before they enter the canyon, and the southern tip of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It's a serene place called Lee's Ferry, where the Colorado gently winds through vermillion cliffs. Rafters hit the first rapid here to b...
Alcatraz and the Civil War
June 21, 2018 15:25 - 16 minutes - 22.1 MBIn the late 1840s, the U.S. government seized control of California from the Republic of Mexico and immediately went to work on protecting the new land. Located in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, an island called Alcatraz was identified as a place of exceptional military utility. Nearly surrounded on all sides, it was ideally positioned to protect the entrance to the bay. You may know Alcatraz as the so-called inescapable prison which housed Al Capone and George "Machine-Gun" Kelly, an...
The Curse of the Petrified Forest
June 13, 2018 21:15 - 15 minutes - 22 MBIn a small section of the painted desert of Arizona, you can find forests of crumbled trees, preserved as stone. Over 200 million years ago, these large conifers were uprooted by floods, then washed down from the highlands and buried by silt. Water seeping through the wood replaced decaying organic material cell by cell with multicolored silica. The land was lifted up by geological upheaval, and erosion began to expose the long-buried, now petrified wood. In the modern age, the trees have t...
Drunken Subterranian Terrorism
June 07, 2018 03:46 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBElevators might seem like a strange topic for a National Park Podcast, but today we're going to talk about a special elevator. In 1931, the National Park constructed what was then the second highest (or shall we say deepest) elevator shaft in the world — descending tourists 754' into the wonders of Carlsbad Caverns National Park — and it's been at the center of some pretty wild incidents. National Park Service Resources related to this episode, music credits and more at nationalparkpodcast...
Dred and Harriet Scott
May 31, 2018 18:12 - 22 minutes - 30.2 MBOn April 6th, 1846, Dred and Harriet Scott walked into the unfinished St. Louis Courthouse in downtown Saint Louis, Missouri, and in an act of bravery, filed separate petitions against Irene Emerson for their freedom. On that day, one of the most important lawsuits in American history, one that would ultimately hasten the start of the Civil War and divide an already divided country, began. It would take ten years and reach as far as the supreme court before it ended. On this episode of Amer...
Legends of Denali
May 24, 2018 06:58 - 16 minutes - 23 MBIn 1896, the highest summit in America was named by a gold prospector in support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who became president the following year. Of course, for centuries before, it had gone by a different name. On this week's episode of America's National Parks, Denali, the 20,310 Alaskan summit, and the six million acres of land that surround it in Denali National Park. Show notes, music credits, and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com/legendsofdenali.
Lady Liberty
May 17, 2018 05:45 - 23 minutes - 32 MBThe Statue of Liberty stands out in New York Harbor, bearing her torch, welcoming tourists and immigrants with the American spirit of Liberty. Her story is complicated, and many apocryphal tales abound of her sitting disassembled for years while Americans tried to figure out how to assemble it. The truth is much more interesting. Today on America's National Parks, The Statue of Liberty and the history of Liberty Island. Show notes, music credits, and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com/la...
Delicate Arch, and the Strange 1950s Schemes to Reinforce It
May 02, 2018 19:11 - 14 minutes - 20.5 MBThere's one natural rock arch that's known better than all others in the US, in fact, it's on the state of Utah's license plate. It had its own postage stamp, and the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay passed through it. On this episode of America's National Parks, Delicate Arch, and the strange history of attempts to protect it at Arches National Park. Show notes and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com.
Muir, Roosevelt, and Yosemite: A Camping Trip That Changed the World
April 25, 2018 22:43 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBIn 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt ditched his secret service detail to go camping in the woods of Yosemite with celebrated naturalist John Muir. Through his writings, Muir taught the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural world. That camping trip changed the face of conservation in the United States. Together, sleeping on the forest floor below the sequoias, they laid the foundation for the next century of federal land preservation. On this episode of America's National P...
California Condors
April 18, 2018 04:58 - 16 minutes - 22.8 MBHow do you save a species of bird with a population of 22 living? A controversial plan hatched nearly three decades ago has condors soaring over Pinnacles National Park again. How they did it, and why there is still trouble ahead, on this episode of America's National Parks. More info, a full transcript, music credits, and other resources are available at nationalparkpodcast.com/condors-pinnacles-national-park.
An Island Prison
April 10, 2018 22:17 - 18 minutes - 25 MBIf you only know the name Geronimo from the call that paratroopers in old war movies and Bugs Bunny cartoons shout, it's a nickname bestowed upon a Native American hero by Mexican soldiers. During repeated conflicts, The Apache warrior attacked them with nothing but a knife, surviving each time despite being continually shot at. The soldiers would plead to Saint Jerome as they faced him. Geronimo is Spanish for “Jerome.” On this episode of America’s National Parks, Geronimo, and his impriso...
The Voyageurs
April 04, 2018 06:09 - 17 minutes - 23.8 MBOn the northern shores of Minnesota lies a remote waterscape steeped in history, nature, and tradition. Named for the wild men who paddled its waterways in the Canadian fur trade, Voyageurs National Park is home to nesting bald eagles, moose, grey wolves, black bear, loons, owls, otter, and beaver. Most of its hidden waterways are untouched, pristine boreal forest, where on a cloudless pre-dawn morning under the northern lights, you can almost hear the songs of fur traders traveling in thei...
Pirates and Parks
March 27, 2018 18:10 - 15 minutes - 22 MBPiracy, the act of seizing a ship or its cargo from its lawful owners, has been a plague since people first set sail on the high seas. By the Elizabethan Era, English piracy entered a Golden Age, as pirates plundered its coastal waters unchallenged. As Spain gradually increased its wealth through its own savagery in the New World, English pirates feasted on Spanish ships, eventually spreading piracy to the Carribean Sea. On this episode of America's National Parks, Pirates, and their role i...
37 Days in Yellowstone
March 22, 2018 05:14 - 35 minutes - 48.3 MBTwo years before the creation of our first National Park, Truman Everts got lost in Yellowstone. He lost not one, but two horses. He set not one, but two forest fires. He waited out a mountain lion in a tree. He slept in a bear's den. He fell through the crust of a hot spring and burnt his hip. He keeled over into his campfire while hallucinating. He spent 37 days making bad decision after worse, and he survived. On this episode of the America's National Parks Podcast, we present our abrid...
The Grand Dame of the Everglades
March 13, 2018 21:56 - 25 minutes - 35.1 MBAt the southern tip of Florida lie the Everglades, a crucial ecosystem to America and the world. Everglades National Park has spent its entire life under siege, with Marjory Stoneman Douglas out front as its chief warrior. Show notes, a full transcript, and music credits for this episode can be found at http://nationalparkpodcast.com/
Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar
March 06, 2018 08:16 - 20 minutes - 27.4 MBDeep within Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, one can find so much more than rock formations. The shale-capped mass of 400 known miles of caverns holds the history of America, told by the Black enslaved cave guides that made it one of the country's top tourist attractions, then and now. Useful Links: In Kentucky, a Family at the Center of the Earth A 2014 in-depth interview with Jerry Bransford and New York Times reporter Kenan Christiansen. bransfordmemorial.com Jerry Bransford’s ...
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters
February 27, 2018 06:39 - 8 minutes - 11.6 MBWelcome to the America's National Parks Podcast. In the coming weeks, we'll begin to explore our nation's treasures, their history, their people, and their stories. Until then, listen to this, our "episode zero," a preview of sorts. Find America's National Parks Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and make sure to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode.